bleachboy

I have seen the terms "real" or "authentic" Mexican food thrown around like so much culinary confetti on this thread. Folks in the East, especially the former USSR, are absolutely enamored with American Food. They find it at McDonalds®. Would you agree that there is no such thing as "authentic" Mexican cuisine, short of committing a home invasion down South?

Are you kidding, man?! I love the oom-pah sound! New Braunfels 4 life!

It's the worst! Proper seasoning is everything in cooking, I've decided.

Even wierder is that I know a lot of people here in Nashville who consider Red Lobster to be a fancy restaurant for special occasions. One reported to me that he went there on prom night (accidentally) and was quoted a two hour table wait... and was willing to wait that long. I don't get it!! I have never been, but if I wanted steak 'n' lobster I think I could name at least 10 places that could do it a lot better for around the same price. Not the least of which would be my kitchen.

droooool...

Now that Lawry's seasoned salt has been mentioned.. toasted pita chips with a ton of Lawry's seasoned salt and a lot of butter is also delicious.

I second this! My Mexican lime squeezer is probably my very favorite kitchen gadget. All you have to do is wait for someone you love to move to Mexico, then ask them to buy one for you. That's what I did, anyway. However, if you're doing a million lemons, find an electric juicer. We have one that I think my wife bought at a flea market or something. It's beat up and ugly, but Marissa used it just this weekend to make a big batch of lemonade and it's definitely a lot quicker than anything manual. Using a fork or a manual squeezer, your hand is gonna get real tired after the first few dozen lemons, I'd bet.

I grew up in Houston, and one of my favorite dishes of all time was Tacos al Carbon at Las Alamedas. Somewhere I read that this dish was actually "invented" by the person who founded Ninfa's. Is that true? It seems like such a straightforward dish, I can hardly believe it would have been invented in the 20th century by a Texan. What do you know about Tacos al Carbon?

I like Spam sandwiches, too. Although I prefer my Spam fried until jet black.

ROTFLMAOBBQ!

slkinsey, you're pretty much my hero. But.. I gotta say, I *always* use Rose's lime in a gimlet. It's the only place where the stuff isn't foul, and in fact I don't LIKE a gimlet made with fresh lime juice. My wife and I are cocktail lovers, and always have fresh limes in the fridge, so it's not a convenience thing. I'll gladly pull out the lemons to make a proper Aviation or the limes to make a delicious Margarita, but for a gimlet I think Rose's lime really hits the spot. No, it's not lime-y except in a "Live Saver's" kind of way. To me, it tastes like lime Jell-O. Off topic, I also think Rose's lime makes a really great addition to salsa verde. Try it sometime. I promise.

It's worth noting that Julia Child says she makes "pie crust" type dough in the food processor exclusively these days. Admittedly, I've never tried it. I went through a phase of baking lots of pies, quiches, etc. just because I felt it was important to learn to make a good pastry dough by hand. I used the technique described in Jeffrey Steingarten's article on the subject, which described in explicit detail the Marion Cunningham technique. Your friendly local librarian would be glad to look it up for you.

And I actually saw that episode where Paula Dean deep-fried canned biscuit dough. I gotta say, that for once she shocked me with something I'd never thought of before but that looked REALLY delicious. I will definitely try it someday.

The connection with the word "mulatto" definitely came to me when I first saw the ad. But like yourself, I pretty much tune out most advertisements and didn't give it any further thought. I certainly wasn't offended, but I did think it was a wierd product naming decision.

You know, I thought the same thing the first time I saw those ads. Compounding the problem was the fact that the ad I saw, anyway, never once printed "MooLatte" on the screen, leaving me to wonder just what the hell they were saying the product was called.

I have a Mason Cash that I like a lot. It's vitrified ceramic, so it has a rough texture that makes the grinding easy, but is also dang near indestructable and very easy to clean.

Yeah, and the tasters follow everything up with "I think". "The shark fin and pork fat really help accentuate the flavor of sea cucumber... I think."

Yeah, what Suzanne said. You do braise pot roast, but you can braise other things as well. Braising is a general cooking technique, like sauteeing or poaching. Pot roast is just the name given to a braised beef roast.

Have you considered cooking the steaks (on a pan/grate of some sort) directly atop the chimney thingee? I think I've seen Alton Brown do that. It gets SUPER MEGA hot.

I've eaten at all the places you mentioned. They're all -- in a way -- "see and be seen" places, which can be a big turn off. I vowed never to return to Cafe One Two Three because my wife and I received unbelievably bad service. I eat at the Boundr'y pretty frequently, but usually on off nights and almost always at the bar, since one of the bartenders is an acquaintance of mine. The food specials are extensive and change daily and range from bad to unbelievably great. Sunset Grill's food is consistently good, but not great -- the food styles there tend to be a little played out, but the wine list is excellent. Their recent parking-nazi actions in Hillsboro Village though have made me pretty much a non-customer. If you want something with a Southern twist, I recommend Chef Sean Brock's place, the Capitol Grille. Most of the places that advertise to tourists (like the Pancake Pantry, etc) serve fairly bad food.

I like the self-checkout. However, I think the grocery store should automatically give me (the consumer) a small discount, say 2%, for doing 100% of the work of shopping, checking myself out, and bagging my own groceries. Otherwise, I see it as a way the grocery store makes extra profit while ostensibly giving me extra "convenience," which kinda bugs me.

Thanks a million, hillvalley and squashblossom! Wonderful report -- gives me some ideas for the next time I'm in NYC!

I got some nice two-inch-thick strip steaks from my butcher recently, and decided to try out this new-fangled "medium heat and a ton of butter" cooking method. Holy crap!! I am a true believer. Seriously, if you are smoking up your house with the cast iron pan (my old technique) you will LOVE the results you'll get from the Fat Guy technique. Probably the best steak I've ever prepared at home. Okay, definitely the best.

BAM!

Where do you store the used oil? How many times can the frying oil be reused with good results?